Great Gobs of Godwin

Godwin’s Law: “As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.”

Thus, we get left wing claims that Bush and Company are the Nazis reborn. And now comes the latest series of speeches from said Administration defending their war on terror and in Iraq: by comparing Osama bin Laden to Hitler and al-Qaeda to the Nazis.

Good grief. This like all Hitler TV.

What disturbs me, though, about the President’s speech is not that he compares one bad man to another. Everyone needs a frame of reference, I guess, and since you can’t really understand how bad bin Laden and his cronies are by, say, witnessing the destruction of a huge chunk of New York City and the murder of thousands of people, it’s good for Mr. Bush to give us some perspective.

No, what really gets me are the subtle ways in which he twists things around to herd the panicked sheep into the pen. The two most glaring ones involve getting the public to disregard the media and that old chestnut: “We never say al-Qaeda had anything to do with Iraq…except when we do.”

On the media, he quotes bin Laden as saying, “…al Qaeda intends to ‘[launch],’ in his words, ‘a media campaign

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9 Responses to Great Gobs of Godwin

  1. geeky says:

    well said. if we don’t question the government, who will?

  2. Brian says:

    Olbermann has been hitting a lot of home runs lately.

    I just wish he wasn’t on in the middle of the night when nobody in America gets to see him.

  3. shelley says:

    Can we *vote* yet? (Or, is *that* “idioic questioning” and “morally confused” behavior?)

  4. Chari says:

    Well said. Maybe now, after five years of this propaganda, folks will actually listen.

  5. cableman says:

    You are kidding, right? Oh the poor ‘media’, they are so maligned…
    There is a difference between responsible reporting and partisan reporting, and lately i haven’t seen any responsible reporting going on. They are all biased one way or another (both sides) and are only interested in reporting the story in a way slanted toward their beliefs.
    I’m sick and tired of the ‘media’ using the 1st amendment to justify their reporting of ongoing secret programs or just plain making things up and apologizing (or not) later. Not because they shouldn’t find out eventually but how can they feel like they are helping America by telling the enemy how we are tracking them?

    It is like the Center of a football team telling the opposing defense the play before every down and then when the offense fails having him turn around and tell everyone that the Quarterback sucks.

    But I’m sure their are some fools out there who believe every word in the newspaper or believe everything the talking heads tell them.
    You make a point of saying the quotes from bin Laden come after the invasion… Hmmmm, so was the invasion before or after bin Laden’s attack on us?
    And no, I’m not a panic’d sheep. I fought for my country before and if need be i’ll do it again.
    I stand by the first amendment rights of expressing opinions openly and I admire those that do. Thanks for allowing me my opinion.

  6. Solonor says:

    This is why I always try to link to the original source, not a third-hand report of it. That is why I have a link to the President’s actual speech. So people can read it themselves and make up their own opinions.

    As for the media, my point was not that the media are blameless victims just trying to get at the truth. Have you watched Fox News lately? Or CNN? Egad. No, my point was that the Administration has used the media’s own crappy (and somewhat deserved) poor reputation to imply that everything the media says is wrong. “Don’t listen to anything anyone says bad about us. It’s all al-Qaeda propaganda. Anyone who disagrees with us is just a tool for the enemy.” That was the basic gist of Rumsfeld’s speech a couple of days ago (which I also read in detail).

    On Iraq: The fact that Osama bin Laden came out with a statement condemning the invasion doesn’t mean that there was a good reason to go into Iraq any more than there would be to go after any other dictator we don’t like.

    “Nobody’s ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq.” – George W. Bush, Aug 21, 2006

    We should have stayed busy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, searching for bin Laden and helping them after the Taliban’s mess, instead of starting another conflict for no good reason. And I’m not going to bend to the notion that giving up my right to question that decision or how the war has been prosecuted and just sit back and say, “Well, they know what they’re doing…” is some kind of al-Qaeda or anti-American plot.

    Thank you for not giving in to the temptation to keep your opinions to yourself, either.

    Lunch tomorrow? 😀

  7. cableman says:

    You betcha! 🙂

  8. jools says:

    It’s good to see these ongoing discussions about war and terrorism and how they relate to democracy and freedom.

    Over here (the Netherlands) there are similar ones. Although, for some part, they are centred on Dutch society only (like what do we do with the terrorist threat in our own country, and should we send troops to Afghanistan and/or Iraq?), American politics are also discussed, which is only natural given the US’ current position in the world and the Netherlands being an active allie of the US.

    Right now, the Dutch Government is outraged over President Bush admitting after all there are secret CIA prisons all over the world, where it was not being admitted in the past despite express diplomatic enquiries, because this was vital information for the parliament that was in the process of deciding whether to send troops to Afghanistan or not.

    Some now argue that the Netherlands should not cooperate with the US when they make use of these secret prisons, because such practices are quite alien to the Netherlands society and beliefs.

    Personally I believe it can be vital for military campaigns to conduct covert operations and that the success of these depends on secrecy. Yet when Human Rights are concerned, I too am a lot less fond of secrecy.

    The main point of concern of the Dutch government is however, that President Bush apparently sees no evil at all in keeping things secret he knows are of great concern to the allies of the US. By doing this, he damages the relationship with his allies and enhances the rising image that the US are set to the rule the world regardless of any country’s opinion.

    Personally I agree with this. The US should tell allied governments about the nature of their secret operations. Trust is vital in global cooperation.

    I don’t mean any disrespect to the current American President, but somehow I have the feeling this kind of foreign diplomacy would never have happened under Bill Clinton.

  9. Ric The Schmuck says:

    Why can’t we all just get along? 🙂

    It’s too bad governments are run by politicians. They just seem to screw it all up.

    And the media is pretty much like the government; some good example’s mixed in with those that aren’t as good.

    Alls I know is in the last 3 weeks I’ve had to fly to two different cities, and the tension is defintely in the air (no pun intended). And you can keep that flying stuff, Solly old chum. I’m completely sick of flying, airports and hotels. And frickin’ time changes. I don’t know how you do it.

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